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We hope to see you at the screening of Kya Hai Ki, Kya Nai Ki: Dakhani - A Tongue Untied by Mumbai-based writer/filmmaker and IFA grantee Gautam Pemmaraju at Lekhana, IIHS, Sadashivanagar onSaturday, January 17 and at BIC, Domlur on Sunday, January 18. The film takes a close look at the Dakhani satire performance poetry Mizahiya Shayri.

Gautam Pemmaraju’s project was supported under IFA’s Arts Research and Documentation programme.

Screening will be followed by a discussion with the director Gautam Pemmaraju.

About the Film: Kya Hai Ki, Kya Nai Ki: Dakhani - A Tongue Untied is an intimate look at the tradition of comic-satire performance poetry in Dakhani (Urdu of the Deccan) known as Mizahiya Shayri. It examines the history of the tradition, styles, content of the pioneers, and also of the contemporary poets. It delves into how the practice of public performance poetry at mushairas is linked with not just the decline of Muslim social culture in the Deccan, but also the fall of the Hyderabad state and the general decline of Urdu.

About Gautam Pemmaraju:
Gautam is a Bombay based writer and filmmaker, focusing on history, literature, sound aesthetics & production, and art. As a long form essayist, his writing has appeared in The Indian Quarterly, Open Magazine, ArtConnect, among others, and a regular column appears at www.3quarksdaily.com. With a special interest in the cultural and political history of Hyderabad and the Deccan, his documentary film on the Urdu comic-satire performance poetry of the region, supported by a grant from the India Foundation for the Arts, explores a unique vernacular tradition in depth.